Peace in Painting – It Can Happen

Be of one mind, live in peace. And the God of love and peace will be with you. 2 Corinthians 13:11

This week I was reminded about why I don’t paint with the girls very much. In short, it’s a mess! I always read about and contemplate craft projects found in Family Fun magazine, on Pinterest and on other blogs, but I rarely try them. It always seems to take me twice as long to clean up a project than it does to actually enjoy the project itself. My predominate inner-Martha (see Mary, Martha and Messes from 2.25.13) is not too sure about that!

However, the other night the girls and I broke out a spontaneous painting project! Wheatley was at scouts, so I anticipated that the girls would want to watch a movie or something. But, no. The paints and supplies were still on the kitchen table from Princess’s birthday party the day before. (Yes, painting is generally reserved for special-occasions in our household). I just can’t believe I didn’t clean them up immediately! The kids must have worn me out. The supplies were calling out to Princess and Little Miss Sunshine, so I spread out some newspaper, and we got out some mini canvases and easels we had gotten for Christmas. We found them at JoAnns, and really, they are the cutest little things ever. Plus, on sale they were about $1.00 a piece, so one’s creativity can be unleashed with canvas after canvas.

My canvas – yes, that’s as good as it gets!

Little Miss Sunshine got the iPad set up next to her, so she could sing along with this one angst-filled song in Christina Perri’s repertoire until she had it just right. I’ll probably break out into spontaneous song the next time I hear that tune, as I pretty much have it down now as well!

But, on this night it was a peaceful way to spend an hour or so. Once the canvases were completed, Princess searched the craft closet for more things to paint, and found a number of small plaster shapes left over from our last trip to the paint-your-own-pottery place. I guess I do keep a pretty well stocked craft closet, just in case. She and Little Miss Sunshine painted six or so of those. We just kept going and going, painting object after object while listening to song after song on the iPad.

Little Miss Sunshine’s guitar

I should break out the paints more often, but truly the mess always stops me. Cleaning the brushes, throwing out unusable paint pots, and cleaning up paint-streaked newspapers gives me pause for the next time. I also had to clean the floor and give Princess a bath after she lost control of her paintbrush a few too many times!

Next time, however, I’m going to try to remember the peaceful few moments we spent on this project. Maybe I’ll put Princess’s black canvas on my desk as a reminder. I wonder how it would look with a nice shot of spray glitter?

From the Heart

Lord, thank you for spontaneous moments.

Make a Start

You knew this one was coming – spend a few moments on a craft project with your kiddos this week. You can always break out the crayons if you’re as mess-adverse as I am. Or let your inner Jackson Pollock fly and get to work on some mini canvases!

Welcome! I'm Heather Paquette, and I'm a writer, editor, and project manager. I hope you enjoy perusing this site, which houses some of my personal and professional writing projects. I look forward to connecting with you so I can help you craft the messages that are important to your work, family, and life.